My work reflects my lived experiences, an introspective journey that explores topics such as identity, migration, cultural heritage, and the landscapes that have shaped and reshaped me. 

 

As both a nomad and an immigrant, I’ve often felt suspended between languages, places, and ways of belonging. I’ve carried the weight of feeling like I’m not from here, not from there, maybe not from anywhere at all. These feelings sprouted questions: What would my life have been like if I had stayed? Whom would I have become if I had grown up in the Dominican Republic? Would I feel more rooted if we had stayed in Mexico? Would I carry this same feeling of disconnection if I had been raised in just one place, not stretched between many? What does it mean to leave behind a home you barely got to know? Why did we have to move? I understood the idea of searching for a “better life,” but I still wonder about what was left behind.

 

What parts of ourselves do we trade away to survive? And at what cost? 

 

Through ceramics, I’ve been able to sit with these questions and, more importantly, respond to them. This work dives into the complexity of being born with nothing, except the dream passed down from generations, the dream of moving to the “promised land” and making it big. But that dream wasn’t mine, and it took me time to understand how deeply that disconnect affected me. 

Making each piece allowed me to have deep inner dialogues with myself, my mother, my sister, and the people who aren’t pictured in my work but whose memories are always present. This work helped me understand our individual paths, our shared history, our struggles and sacrifices, and the different ways we’ve each tried to belong. Through clay, I’ve found a way to hold our stories and begin creating a sense of home on my own terms.